The government says 'Returning to Ireland' covers every potential pitfall people may face.

Last Sunday morning, I boarded an Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to New York’s JFK airport.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has voiced concerns about the welfare of the unborn over proposals to legalise abortions in all cases up to 12 weeks of gestation.

All eyes will be on Fine Gael’s special parliamentary party meeting this afternoon where TDs and senators will discuss their views on plans to repeal the Eighth Amendment and allow unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.

An Garda Síochána have urged social media users to “respect” others after a Twitter poll it ran was met with outrage.

An Garda Síochána have urged social media users to “respect” others after a Twitter poll it ran was met with outrage.

Last Thursday theMinister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney announced on Twitter that he is “looking forward to finalising” a proposal “allowing Irish citizens all over the world have the option to vote in presidential elections — it will change and broaden the nature of the presidency for the better...”

I can’t get over the hypocrisy of Minister Ciaran Cannon’s criticism of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, for hosting John Waters’ lecture, When Evil Becomes Virtual, writes Victora White. 

The minister for the diaspora is surprised the estimated number of illegal immigrants living in the US has now been reduced to just 10,000.

The Government has donated an extra €9m in funding for areas hit by humanitarian crises across the globe.

The government has announced the commitment to an additional €9m to go to underfunded humanitarian crises.

Savings from other government areas will help pay for water charge refunds amounting to over €170m which Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has pledged will be returned to households in the coming weeks.

LATEST: Leo Varadkar has been accused of "undervaluing women's voices" after appointing less females than Enda Kenny to junior ministry roles.

The group of Yale students were performing at The CAFE Festival in The Village Theatre.

The Government is facing calls to do more to protect cyclists, as the death toll of those killed on bicycles in 2017 has already reached half of last year’s total.

Cyclists yesterday gathered in force and demanded more resources to be ringfenced to build cycling routes, to promote cycling, and to aid the environment by keeping traffic off the roads.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is facing mounting pressure to refund Irish Water customers who paid their bills, with growing calls for rebates from within Cabinet, as well as from many of his own TDs.

Fine Gael TDs are split on refunding water charges, with half of those contacted by the Irish Examiner in favour of giving the money back and a near identical number saying non-payers must instead be pursued.

Six left-wing TDs are facing potential Leinster House disciplinary action after breaking strict political emblem rules by wearing pro-choice ‘Repeal’ jumpers in the Dáil chamber.

About 20% of the country’s political representatives are landlords, according to the most recent registry of members interests.

With huge tracts of this constituency hived off into the new Roscommon-Galway region, a number of TDs have seen their home bases ripped asunder.

Over €600,000 in severance, redundancy, or other payments was given to at least 15 people who lost their jobs as advisers or other roles with former ministers, after last year’s reshuffle.

Ireland copper fastened its reputation as a digital trailblazer this month, having organised in excess of 500 individual events for European Code Week — more than any other participating country.

Galway East TD Ciaran Cannon said last week that Ireland needs to look seriously at creating a computer science curriculum in schools. Kehlan Kirwan examines why it’s a good idea.

The new Junior Minister with responsibility for the Gaeltacht will take a refresher course in the Irish language after it emerged his proficiency in the language was not enough to conduct an interview on TG4.

The country's second youngest TD, Simon Harris, has been appointed as Junior Finance Minister, the position formerly held by Brian Hayes, in the Government's reshuffle.

The country's second youngest TD, Simon Harris, is to be appointed to the high profile position of Junior Finance Minister in a reshuffle to be announced this afternoon.

Reports are emerging about some of the winners and losers in the latest round of the ministerial reshuffle.

The Coalition is expected to announce a raft of junior ministerial appointments today including new positions in social protection and environment.

The spotlight is now firmly fixed on Taoiseach Enda Kenny as he finalises the shake-up of his junior government ranks, writes Political Correspondent Shaun Connolly

Tánaiste Joan Burton has moved to allay concern among some Labour TDs that she got a raw deal in the attempted Government relaunch, as Taoiseach Enda Kenny prepared to sack a number of junior ministers.

The future of major reforms of the junior cycle looks uncertain as outgoing Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has failed to reach any compromise with teacher unions.

More than 170 free third-level courses aimed at training people in skills for expanding employment sectors are being opened up for applications this week.

THE Tuam babies story this week says much about the past, but about the present also.

The Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, said he welcomes the announcement that a cross-departmental examination is to be carried out of the burial arrangements for children in Mother and Baby Homes.

The strong advice from education experts to exam students is to sleep and eat well over the next two weeks.

As the Church plans to discuss erecting a memorial to the 800 babies and children in a mass burial site in Co Galway, the Adoption Rights Alliance has called for a public inquiry into all deaths of babies, children, and mothers at mother-and- baby homes around the country.

There is a call for the State and the Gardaí to launch separate investigations into a mother and baby home in Galway beside which hundreds of infants were buried.

A parents’ leader has called on teacher unions and Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to resolve the dispute over junior cycle reform.

An educational quality mark to be in place by the end of the year should ensure below-standard colleges for international students can no longer stay in business, the Dáil has been told.

Documents containing serious allegations of criminal wrongdoing by some Bus Éireann staff as well as operators dealing with the bus company, have been forwarded to gardaí by an Oireachtas committee.